Jenni Britton Bauer's Cream Cheese Based Ice Cream
Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 1/2 ounces cream cheese softened/room temperature
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
Preparation:
- PLEASE NOTE: 24 HOURS BEFORE YOU WANT TO MAKE THE ICE CREAM, WASH THE CANISTER, DRY IT WELL, AND PLACE IT IN THE COLDEST PART OF THE FREEZER. DO NOT REMOVE IT UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO POUR THE CHILLED CREAM INTO IT.
- PREP 3 BOWLS In a small bowl, mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch to make a smooth slurry. In a medium bowl, add the salt and room-temperature cream cheese and whip all the bumps out. In a large bowl, make an ice bath (heavy on the ice) and set aside.
- COOK Pour the cream, sugar, corn syrup, and remaining milk into a 4-quart saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, set a timer for precisely 4 minutes and boil for exactly 4 minutes—the timing is critical. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Return the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
- CHILL Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Do this a little bit at a time so that you can whip out any lumps of cream cheese. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag, seal, and submerge the bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until very cold, about 30 minutes.
- FREEZE Cut the corner off the bag, pour the chilled base into the frozen canister of your ice cream machine, press a sheet of parchment paper directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.
- HOW TO TELL WHEN YOUR ICE CREAM IS DONE The ice cream is finished at the exact moment when the machine isn’t freezing the ice cream anymore; the ice cream will begin to pull away from the sides (about 25 minutes). If you stop too soon, there will be a thin layer of really dense ice cream on the sides of the canister.
- SERVE When you remove the ice cream from the freezer, let it sit and relax for 5 to 10 minutes before you scoop and serve it—it doesn’t need to melt, but it does need to thaw slightly. Ideally, serve and eat it while it’s quite firm but pliable and you are able to easily roll it into a ball. Once you’ve scooped it, return any remaining ice cream to the freezer. If the ice cream has melted too much at room temperature, refreezing it will result in an ice cream that is too icy.
As we talked so much about kulfi last week, I had Indian food on my mind a lot this week. Adding to that, for the past few weeks, I have had a bottle of rosewater sitting in my cabinet just staring at me. I had bought the rosewater thinking I would attempt to make some Indian or Middle Eastern desserts. I do occasionally make things other than ice cream. Alas, like all well laid plans of mice and men, it went awry and I never got around to it. I was curious though to see if rosewater would work well in an ice cream. I used a slight variation of the Jenni Britton Bauer method, so I will lay out my own plan below.
Rosewater Ice Cream (Cream Cheese Based)
Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 1/2 ounces cream cheese softened/room temperature
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons rosewater
Preparation:
I always leave my ice cream canister in the freezer, so it is ready to use if I need it. I also find that ice cream churns best when the canister has been in the freezer for awhile.
In a small bowl, mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch.
In a medium bowl, add the salt and room-temperature cream cheese and whip all the bumps out.
Pour the cream, sugar, corn syrup, and remaining milk into a 4-quart saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, set a timer for precisely 4 minutes and boil for exactly 4 minutes—the timing is critical (I did not precisely time mine).
Mix in the cornstarch and stir until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Do this a little bit at a time so that you can whip out any lumps of cream cheese. (I did not gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese, I just dumped it all in, and this was probably my biggest mistake. Next time, I will pour it in slowly because you do need time for the lumps of cream cheese to dissolve.) Add in two tablespoons of rosewater.
Put the mixture in your fridge until it is cool (I left mine in overnight). Churn in your ice cream make until thick and creamy (approximately 40 minutes in my ice cream maker).
The cream cheese based, rosewater ice cream came out deliciously! As I mentioned, my ice cream was not perfectly smooth because I did not do a good job of really whipping out all the lumps of cream cheese. I will definitely take care to do this next time. Nonetheless, the ice cream was very creamy and dense. It also held the ice cream texture and looked like ice cream much more than my egg yolk based ice creams, which tasted great and had a good consistency, but tended to melt quickly. My husband thought the rosewater made the ice cream taste like rasmalai, another Indian dessert, which I love, so all in all it was a win-win.
My only complaint about the Jenni Britton Bauer recipe is that it does not specify when would be a good time to add the flavoring. For flavors that are more viscous, such as rosewater, I think adding them in at the end, as I did, is fine. However, for flavors that need to be steeped before being strained out, such as in the Honey Thyme Ice Cream, I think they will need to be added in before you combine the milk mixture with the cream cheese. I will keep experimenting in the weeks ahead and report back.
I have read on some ice cream making websites complaints on using corn syrup in making ice cream because it is not a "real" food. Many feel like using corn syrup in homemade ice cream destroys the integrity of the ice cream. Here are my thoughts on the "corn syrup controversy." First, corn syrup is different than high fructose corn syrup. While they are both made from corn, high fructose corn syrup has had its glucose enzymatically converted to fructose, hence the name. Thus, while corn syrup has been processed, just as sugar cane is processed, it has not been enzymatically altered the way high fructose corn syrup is. In that sense you can say high fructose corn syrup is a "fake" food. Since corn syrup is not being altered the way high fructose corn syrup is, I am not exactly sure it is ruining the integrity of homemade ice cream. On the other hand, are both corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup bad for you? Yes. Are both hard for your body to digest? Yes. If you want to be healthy, you should avoid eating both corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup. If you want to be healthy, you should also avoid eating ice cream. The corn syrup you do or do not put in your ice cream is not going to make it any more or less healthy for you. If you want to be healthy, stop eating ice cream and reading ice cream blogs. Otherwise, everything in moderation, including moderation. So get out there and train for a marathon. Run 9 miles in 80 degree weather and when you get back, scoop yourself a large bowl of high-fat, high-sugary goodness and enjoy!
Overall: I would give my Rosewater Ice Cream 4/5 scoops. It has a unique, enjoyable flavor and good consistency that hits your sweet spot and satisfies an ice cream craving.
Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.
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